My Anxiety has become debilitating and I'm scared, what should I do?

[Luna Belle]

Bit of a long post- but here we go!



For the last month or so, my anxiety and panic attacks have become very severe. I've always had anxiety but it has never affected my life NEAR as much as it has now. Every day I'm struggling. I'm always worried that something bad is happening with my body, especially my heart. I'm constantly checking my heart rate, googling my symptoms, and overall just obsessing about it. I have heart palpitations (heart flutter and increased heart rate) and they scare me every time. Along with those, I have dizziness, shortness of breath, sometimes tingly sensations in my hands and legs, nausea, surreal sensations, and just overall panic. When this happens I tend to pace and try to distract myself from my racing thoughts and try to calm down. Which sometimes helps. But I'm just scared. My anxiety got so bad, that I actually went to the hospital. They did an EKG, blood test, and chest X-RAY, along with a few other things to try to figure this whole situation out. Everything came back normal (of course) except for the fact that I'm anemic. But that didn't kick the feeling that something was wrong with me. I felt as though they could have missed something, and that I need more tests done because my symptoms feel so real. I'm worried I'll go into cardiac arrest or something because that's just how intense my thoughts are! I'm paranoid that my heart is weak. I just want to feel normal again. This anxiety and panic has made it so hard to do everyday things which makes me stressed and I cry because I feel so helpless. I'm 21, and I have got a lot to do but it's so hard to even go grocery shopping. I also don't have the most supportive boyfriend during this time. He doesn't understand how I could be feeling such crazy things when all of my tests came back normal. All of which causes more stress on me. The thing is, 3 months ago my grandfather who was my everything and who I lived with my entire life passed away unexpectedly. The first month after his death, I couldnt talk about it, couldnt cry about it, couldnt look at his pictures, just pretty much denying it. The next month I started accepting it, and finally crying about it, but also starting to get anxiety symptoms. Then one morning after some heavy drinking I had a horrible panic attack that lasted 2 weeks! Almost nonstop anxiety. I finally learned how to not have panic attacks constantly but its still not enough to go about my everyday life. This has destroyed me. But dealing with this loss of one of my favorite people and this anxiety is almost unbearable. I just need some guidance on what to do. Thank you for your time.

 

[Kelculator]

I am so sorry about what you're going through. Been there. It was horrible, I know. You may not agree with my suggestion or may not be able to do that, idk, but getting anxiety medication has helped me the most and brought mr out of this dreadful loop. Are you on any form of medication already?
One thing about anxiety sufferers like us is that our brain are over-alert. We always overanalyze a situation without knowing it. Give yourself some (more) peptalk, about how fearing something happening doesn't mean it really is going to happen. Fear is just a feeling. It is unpleasant, but just an emotion which means nothing else than the fact that you are scared. Understanding that has helped me.
Also, I am very sorry about your loss. The loss of someone can absolutely trigger further anxiety. Try to be patient with yourself, and treat yourself with great care and love. You will get out og this. I promise. You must feel like you can never, but it is because our brains are all messed up by anxiety when in this situation. Your brain cannot accept that you are safe and you will get better, but I'm telling you that you will. Sorry for not bring able to answer further right now since I have school, but do continue posting updates or ask more questions. I'm sending you my biggest hug.

 

[khwoodin]

Bit of a long post- but here we go!



For the last month or so, my anxiety and panic attacks have become very severe. I've always had anxiety but it has never affected my life NEAR as much as it has now. Every day I'm struggling. I'm always worried that something bad is happening with my body, especially my heart. I'm constantly checking my heart rate, googling my symptoms, and overall just obsessing about it. I have heart palpitations (heart flutter and increased heart rate) and they scare me every time. Along with those, I have dizziness, shortness of breath, sometimes tingly sensations in my hands and legs, nausea, surreal sensations, and just overall panic. When this happens I tend to pace and try to distract myself from my racing thoughts and try to calm down. Which sometimes helps. But I'm just scared. My anxiety got so bad, that I actually went to the hospital. They did an EKG, blood test, and chest X-RAY, along with a few other things to try to figure this whole situation out. Everything came back normal (of course) except for the fact that I'm anemic. But that didn't kick the feeling that something was wrong with me. I felt as though they could have missed something, and that I need more tests done because my symptoms feel so real. I'm worried I'll go into cardiac arrest or something because that's just how intense my thoughts are! I'm paranoid that my heart is weak. I just want to feel normal again. This anxiety and panic has made it so hard to do everyday things which makes me stressed and I cry because I feel so helpless. I'm 21, and I have got a lot to do but it's so hard to even go grocery shopping. I also don't have the most supportive boyfriend during this time. He doesn't understand how I could be feeling such crazy things when all of my tests came back normal. All of which causes more stress on me. The thing is, 3 months ago my grandfather who was my everything and who I lived with my entire life passed away unexpectedly. The first month after his death, I couldnt talk about it, couldnt cry about it, couldnt look at his pictures, just pretty much denying it. The next month I started accepting it, and finally crying about it, but also starting to get anxiety symptoms. Then one morning after some heavy drinking I had a horrible panic attack that lasted 2 weeks! Almost nonstop anxiety. I finally learned how to not have panic attacks constantly but its still not enough to go about my everyday life. This has destroyed me. But dealing with this loss of one of my favorite people and this anxiety is almost unbearable. I just need some guidance on what to do. Thank you for your time.

Try emdr and ashwaganda!


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[Tryingtocope]

Hello my first time here and I'm freaking out. Went to doctor after 2 weeks of sore throat and ears. Diagnosed with your infection and given prednisone and antibiotic therapy. The medicines did nothing and I still could not swallow subsequently I stopped eating and have not trust eaten in acouple of weeks. I went to another doctor and she was lovely and I express my feelings and she tell me I have depression and anxiety. She said not to worry about Eating would return. I have never taken any medication and she put me on Zoloft. I took my test this morning and when I went to look at my patient portal it was blocked by the doctor. I have a eaten I have terrible indigestion pains and I am out of my mind scared. The doctor made an appointment for Monday and the nurse said she would call me tomorrow with results. I think I'm sick I have none I'm scared I'm having a panic attack but I need to get some food in me because I can't exist this way.i'm so scared I have cancer I'm so scared of dying and leaving my family has all her family do. I just have no appetite at all indigestion earache please if anyone can help me I'm desperate I've got to make it through the night, I'm here waiting for anyone to respond to get me through this I'm at wits end I'm desperate so desperate help help help help help

 

[Tryingtocope]

Anyone here

 

[Joelle]

Anyone here

It is possible your portal was blocked because your doctor understands that your trigger is your health. Your mind is a powerful thing. I have experienced many symptoms of MS once my mind latched onto the fear of having it. When I feared cancer, my body reacted in ways that confirmed it. When I first experienced anxiety, I had nothing but heartburn every day and was convinced I had something was really wrong with me. I would wake up with terrible indigestion. Afternoons were a bit better. Night time was terrible with fear and inability to fall asleep. Taking medication??? No way...my fear would not allow that. I got the point that I would rather just be diagnosed with something and be done than be so fearful and stressed. Well, it's 4 years later and I am still here and still healthy. I am still amazed how strong my mind is to cause so many weird symptoms from anxiety alone. Currently, I am in another bout of anxiety and MS is my fear but as I am doing my best to break the cycle of my thought process, those symptoms are pretty much gone.

Here is what I learned. I learned that no one really can make me feel better. My mind would allow that for a moment but the fears would always return. I didn't know how to cope. I am a Christian, so for me, prayer got me through it. Anytime I fear, I open the Bible or I begin to pray for someone else...not even myself. I do that until the fear passes. I try to walk in gratitude. When my leg felt weak but I had full functionality...all I could think of was MS. But it was fully functional so I told myself that right now...right NOW...I can walk. I am grateful for this moment that today I can function and as long as I can function I will function. I would not have been ready to tell myself that a few years ago so you may not be ready to hear that. I remember once someone saying that you can feel the physical effects of anxiety but you don't have to respond. I wasn't ready to hear that and thought it was terrible advice. As time went on that made more sense to me. Afterall, I get through the day with a sinus headache. I get through the day when my very slight tinnitus acts up. What if I just told my hormones to fall back in line and my head to just stop all the noise and moved on...keep moving forward? It helped. I think we look for some grand solution but that doesn't always come. Anxiety is a practice of taking daily small steps...we need to be persistent. That persistence is a type of bravery. Each day we challenge our mind to not betray us...to go against what our mind is trying to tell us. The more fear we practice the better we become at fearing and after a while we are the experts. But we can be the experts in persistent bravery as well.

 

[janemariesayed]

If you go down the google doctor route you could end up thinking all sorts of things. Most of them just won't be true. Try going a day without thinking about your health. Wash and clean yourself and eat properly. Then you only need to go to the doctor if you are suffering.

 

[JohnJ]

Hi Luna Belle,

I would like to learn a little more about your situation, if you don't mind elaborating. You mentioned that you have always struggled with anxiety, but that it has recently spiraled out of control; was there an event that may have triggered this? Also, do you currently take medication to help lessen your anxiety? If so, how has that been working for you?

Your symptoms are real. However, it is highly unlikely that they are caused by anything other than your anxiety. The symptoms you mentioned in your post are commonly associated with anxiety.

Heart palpitations can have several underlying causes, but they are typically caused by caffeine and/or anxiety. Some medicines can also cause you to have them. They are not dangerous in these situations, but can certainly make you feel more nervous.

You aren't going to go into cardiac arrest. Young people who experience cardiac arrest typically have pre-existing conditions that put them at risk or consume something that they shouldn't be putting in their system. Some arrhythmia conditions can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke, but these can be diagnosed with a simple EKG, which you've already had.

Can doctors be wrong? Of course. But it's important to understand that they don't want anything bad to happen to you and will do anything within their power to help you lead a healthy life.

The very best advice I can give you right now (at least, that you can immediately implement) is to stop Googling your symptoms. No matter how badly you want to Google a symptom or illness, don't. This was incredibly difficult for me in the beginning, but it can help tremendously. The minute you begin reading symptoms, you'll start experiencing them. Our mind is a very powerful thing and can cause us to have very real, but meaningless, symptoms, simply because we read about them.

Please feel free to reach out to me via PM if you need anything or have questions.